Do you need pro bono legal advice?

About our pro bono legal service

The suffering and exploitation of animals in Australia is legal and happens every day because of cruel, inadequate and inconsistent laws.

Our lawyers fight to protect animals.

We do this by initiating groundbreaking and strategic lawsuits which challenge animal exploitation, and working closely with many respected and high profile animal advocates and animal protection organisations.

We focus on matters that have a broader animal protection element to them – this means that we generally focus our work on the legal injustices that affect the largest number of animals and give rise to the worst cruelty.

All of our lawyers and staff are volunteers. Because of this, we are not able to help every individual or organisation that requests assistance. Unless your matter has an animal protection public interest element to it we will generally be unable to assist you. Here are some examples of cases that we do not generally take on as they do not satisfy our intake criteria:

If you need legal assistance about one of these areas of law, we suggest that you contact the Lawyers For Animals clinic at the Fitzroy Legal Service, who provide an excellent clinic service.

We exist to protect animals. Because of this, we will not act on behalf of breeders or defend individuals charged with animal cruelty offences. As we are a charity, we also do not generally provide advice or representation to for profit organisations.

If you need legal advice or assistance, please complete the form below. You should also review our Advice Guidelines to determine whether your matter is something we can assist with.

ALI will assess all requests for assistance against our Advice Guidelines internally and will notify you within 7 days if we are able to assist. Should you not receive a response from ALI within 7 days, please assume that unfortunately ALI is not able to assist you with your request.

Some of our clients

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Organisation Name

Phone *

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Email Address *

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Is this advice for you? *

The Animal Law Institute can only provide advice to you if you are the client and if this is your dispute

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Are you enquiring as an individual or on behalf of an organisation? *

If enquiring on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that by submitting this enquiry form you are duly authorised to seek this legal advice and provide instructions to The Animal Law Institute on behalf of the organisation. Please note that The Animal Law Institute may ask for proof of authority.

Individual

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Please tick the area the advice relates to: *

The Animal Law Institute does not provide advice in relation to taxation, migration or probate matters.

Administrative law

Animal cruelty

Consumer law

Corporate law and corporate governance

Criminal law

Defamation

Employment law

Family law

Infringement

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Please summarise your legal issue *

Please explain what assistance you seek from The Animal Law Institute *

Other side (who is this advice against?)

Are you aware of any conflicts of interest?

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Urgency *

Have you contacted The Animal Law Institute before? *

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Have you received legal advice on this matter previously? *

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Are you currently receiving legal advice or assistance from any other legal professional in relation to this matter? *

If this request is about an animal you own, do you have pet or other insurance for that animal? *

Yes

No

If you hold pet or other insurance for that animal, have you made a claim on that insurance in relation to this matter? *

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N/A

Have you received any pay out from pet or other insurance in relation to this matter? *

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N/A

I have received a refund or compensation in relation to this claim *

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I have signed terms of settlement or any other settlement document in relation to this claim *

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Address *

Address

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Hi

Thank you for contacting us.

We are so sorry to hear about what has happened.

As we are an entirely volunteer run organisation, we are unable to respond to help everyone with free legal advice. While we’d love to help you, we focus on public interest cases that seek to change the way the law works for the benefit of lots of animals, rather than just one or two. Because of this, we are generally unable to help with veterinary negligence claims, or dangerous dog cases.

If we are able to help, we will respond to you within 7 days. If you have not heard from us in that time frame, we are unfortunately unable to assist with free legal advice.

We wish you all the best.

The ALI Team

P.S. Are you located in Victoria? The Animal Law Clinic offers free legal advice with appointments every Wednesday evening at the Fitzroy Legal Service. Call (03) 9419 3744 to book an appointment or follow this link for further information: http://lawyersforanimals.org.au/clinic-2/

P.P.S. Are you located in Canberra? The Animal Defender’s Office are able to provide free legal advice and representation. They are unfortunately unable to help with vet negligence cases. Please visit their website for more information about how to contact them: https://www.ado.org.au

P.P.S. For those not in Victoria or the ACT, the Barristers Animal Welfare Panel can refer you to barristers and lawyers that are able to provide you with free legal advice. Please refer to their website at www.bawp.org.au for more information.

What happens next?

We are unable to assist in dangerous dog, restricted breed or veterinary negligence claims unless they fall within the public interest criteria in our Advice Guidelines.

ALI will assess all requests for assistance against our Advice Guidelines internally and will notify you within 21 days if we are able to assist. Should you not receive a response from ALI within 14 days, please assume that unfortunately ALI is not able to assist you with your request.

Requests for legal assistance are considered in the order they are received.